POSTS TAGGED : DRINKS

BarryGruff Albums of the Year (2015)

BGs Albums of the year 2015So it is that time of year again, lists, lists and more lists. Well, not be out done, here are my 41 (yes 41, and yes it’s a weird number) albums of 2015.

It has been such a good year for new albums, probably the best since I started the blog back in 2010. So much so that there is very little difference between the top 5, top 10, top 15 and so on. So without further ado, here are my favourite records from 2015:

There is also a Spotify playlist of the Top 20 albums, to save you time and hassle (it’s here).

41. Only Real – Jerk At The End of the Line’

40. Rozi Plain – ‘Friend’

39. Wildling – ‘Molecules To Moon’

38. The School – ‘Wasting Away And Wondering’

37. Sweet Baboo – ‘Boombox Ballads’

36. The Stammer – ‘Days In Between’

35. SexWitch – Sex Witch’

34. Faith Healer – ‘Cosmic Troubles’

33. Girl Band – ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’

32. Joanna Gruesome – ‘Peanut Butter’

31. Fort Romeau – ‘Insides

30. Soft Serve – ‘S/t’

29. Applescal – ‘For’

28. Zefur Wolves – ‘Zefur Wolves’

27. Hot Chip – ‘Why Make Sense?’

26. Drenge – ‘Undertow’

25. The Charlatans – ‘Modern Nature’

24. Gaz Coombes – ‘Matador’

23. Bill Ryder-Jones – ‘West Kirby County Primary’

22. Drinks – ‘Hermits on Holiday’

21. The Expert – Dynamic Drift

20. Boxed In – ‘Boxed In’

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BarryGruff Playlist August 2015

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A now regular monthly feature, whereby we round up all the blog action with a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured during the month.

August was pretty damn good! We had new tunes from Anderson, The Foetals, The Annulments and DRINKS ahead of their respective, forthcoming new albums. There were excellent new singles from SALES, Cornershop, Imploded View, Foreign/National and Silverbacks, and EPs from Mr Huw & Dog Legs. Oh, and Johnny Feeney shared his albums of the year so far too.

Also featured on this month’s playlist are great tracks from Martha Ffion, Sh-Shakes, SQRD, BUCK, and Ghost Culture’s, Ghostpoet remix . So, August, pretty good alright.

Listen to BarryGruff’s August 2015 playlist below.

BarryGruff’s July 2015 playlist

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A now regular monthly feature, whereby we round up all the blog action with a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured during the month.

July was pretty ace! We had new tunes from The School, The Stammer and DRINKS ahead of their respective, forthcoming new albums, and the return of WE//ARE//ANIMAL. There were excellent new singles from Neon Wolf, Galants, Lethal Dialect, Manor, Kelly Lee Owens, The Expert, Glass Sines and Koloto.

Also featured on this month’s playlist are great tracks from Bedbugs, Effin, Gwenno, Trails and Ways, Open Window and Joan. So, July was pretty good. And that’s all before mentioning that Justin Beats gave Jamie xx’s new record In Colour, the once over, Johnny Feeney reported from Knockanstockan and we had a chat with Trails and Ways. And the small matter of my albums of the year so far list.

Listen to BarryGruff’s July 2015 playlist below.

Introducing: DRINKS (Cate Le Bon & White Fence’s Tim Presley)

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Welsh songstress Cate Le Bon is joining forces with White Fence‘s Tim Presley for DRINKS, a new collaborative project. Despite their synergistic efforts, they describe themselves “as solo project, not a collaboration. It has one mouth, one set of lungs, one mind and four legs.”

Moving swiftly away from the pedantry, the duo’s debut album Hermits on Holiday, will be released on August 21st via Heavenly Records. Ahead of the LP’s release, which is not too far away at all, we’ve got a a veritable pair of aces in ‘Hermits On Holiday’ & ‘Laying Down Rock’. Title track, ‘Hermits On Holiday’ is a peculiar (and incredibly catchy), jaunty affair with a jittery, tick-tock rhythm and led by Le Bon’s distinctly soft, supple vocals, before a mash of ragged riffs rise up, and rip it up, to see out the song with chaotic majesty. Meanwhile, Presley handles vocals on ‘Laying Down Rock’, a purposefully graceless, jerky piece of ’60s-leaning-psychedelia, driven by some tremendous riff repetition.

Who looks the majority of vocal responsibility on the album? Guess we’ll have to wait and see, but both are equally affable, no doubt about it. It is a promising start to an interesting partnership and you can hear both tracks below.